Iron Chef
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    Yesterday was a beautiful winters day with no clouds and a mild temperature so I rose early today hopeful of the same however it’s gray. Never mind I am awake now so off for a small ride.

    Riding south I turned off and went to Mt Tamborine via Logan village. Very cold riding next to the Logan river just after 7.00am, I should have gone in my winter gear however wanted to road test a replacement for my leather jacket, namely the Scout jacket from First Gear and with it’s liner in it was doing a reasonable job considering it is a 3 season type design.

    They are finally resurfacing much of Mt Tamborine’s northern ascent  and by the looks it will be pretty good once finished, definitely worth revisiting here in month or so. Early before breakfast day trippers arrive is the only time of day worth riding Mt Tamborine in my opinion as it clogs up like car park later.

    Dropped down the goat track which was fun and rode on to Beechmont in the opposite direction to other bikes on the road which were most likely all headed to the Outpost café at Canungra. The worst of the western side ascent of Beechmont has been resurfaced and along with the all the other resurfaced sections this is a hell of a good ride now compared to what it once was. 

    Had an excellent coffee and cake at the Binna Burra café. These photos have been tweaked to an inch of themselves in Lightroom to try make something worth looking at as the world was a steel shade of gray. After coffee I decided the cloud was not going to lift and so actually it was not the finest day for the first outing with my new camera.

    Had a great ride down the eastern side of Beechmont. Flowing gently through each corner, enjoying every radius for as long as possible.  At the bottom a throng of sports bike riders in their one piece race suits had gathered post challenging themselves on the Hinze. I turned left for home, happy to go my own way now.

    9 Comments

    1. Chef, great to read some of your reports – been a while since I visited, but let me tell you, your photography and words really do the roads you ride justice!!

      Love that bike of yours too mate – keep up the great work.

    2. Did you go last weekend Anthony? I saw the temps at Armidale and even if the rain had cleared was thinking it might just be too cold!

    3. Troy I am using a Pentax Kr, well when I get some lenses I will be. Your comment was temporary lost in the mountain of spam I am getting at the moment. Hinze raceway does attract the one-piece crowd as you so nicely put it. Few nice corners but just a way to get to or from other better roads for me. Try the cafe , good coffee and food if albeit a touch expensive but worth it for the views.

    4. Haha, no white stuff here ever Sonja!

      Sean, I was not humming Fleetwood Mac nor thinking about Buells (one of Eriks old sales motto's). The thought popped into my head because I was riding purely as I wanted to.

    5. Great pics! Why the title? Were you listening to Rumours by any chance through those twisties? Great riding album! 🙂

    6. Sounds like a fun ride IC. I'm yet to do those roads on the bike, so looking forward to tackling them at some point. Love your first photo showing the hairpin up ahead!

      I went for a ride out to Nymboida and didn't wear enough layers…was cold out there too!

      I noticed a complete lack of bikes and thought it was odd that it was a beautiful day and there was no one out…..but they were all at the coaching station having coffee.

    7. Beechmont is great coming from Canungra, a lot of the one-piece crowd only do the advancetown to upper beechmont section and back again but even the bumpy sections on the backside of the moutain are enjoyable.
      That northern Tamborine run has been under construction for ages now, I agree it will be much more popular once they've finished. Weekdays is hands down the best time for Mt Tamborine if achievable, its not just the constant procession of cars but you also avoid the more dangerous squids on bikes seemingly desperate to get up or down the hill at all costs.
      The Binna Burra cafe pic looks particularly neat, whats the new camera ?.

    8. I can understand why you have such a hard time once the roads fill up. Around here we've got the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is used by everyone and their mother. It's not so bad when you stop, though. At the overlooks there are always great riders to chat with. I do enjoy that part of it.

      Brady
      Behind Bars – Motorcycles and Life
      http://www.behindbarsmotorcycle.com/

    9. Hm, this is what you call winter? Where's still green stuff on the trees and no white stuff on the ground…
      Beautiful scenery, and I really love the melancholy of the first picture.

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